Colombia releases detailed report about the FARC

Tuesday, February 1, 2005 

Colombia — The Colombian Caracol Radio reported on January 31, 2005 that the government of Colombia released a detailed document which describes how the FARC operates in Colombia and around the world.[1] The report was prepared by the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Información y Análisis Financiero del Ministerio de Hacienda(Special Administrative Unit of the Information and Financial Analysis of the Ministry of the Finance) and describes how the FARC operates and manage their finances. The study was delivered to the Colombian government at the end of the last year.

The FARC expenses

According to Caracol Radio the most important facts from the report are the following:

Guerrilla

The report identifies three types of guerrilla:

• High rank: these members can participate in the high level operations, including the drug trafficking. They have access to beer, seafood, gatorade (a soft drink), prawns, shampoo, gel for the hair, brandy, and whiskey. Daily cost: $6 798 pesos ($US1 equals 2359 Colombian pesos).
• Average rank: these member can participate in illicit activities such as kidnapping, extorsion and theft . Daily cost: $4,917 pesos.
• Low rank: they are supported by the secretaryship or other structures because they operate in difficult conditions. Daily cost: $2.800 pesos.

28 percent belongs to the high ranking members of FARC, 64 percent belongs to the middle ranks and 8 percent to the lower ranks.

Kidnapping

The costs of feeding people who are kidnapped is 2,382 million pesos

Logistic Intendance

• 20 billion pesos are the expenses of 690 thousand units of armament, that include as much ammunition expenses as weapon expenses during a year.
• 14 billion pesos are the expenses of quartermaster equipment (uniforms, machetes, boots) during a year.
• up to 4 thousand 256 million pesos are the expenses on explosives.

Health

• There is evidence that FARC members are under specialized treatments in recognized clinical of Ecuador and Venezuela. Expenses of up to 1450 million pesos a year.

Transportation

• Vehicles and gasoline. Each FARC structure does between 14 and 18 short trips per month, and between 8 and 11 long trips, spending up to 1500 million pesos.

Communications

• Purchase of radios and cellular telephones and batteries costs up to 8311 millions pesos.

Chemical

• Chemical products used during the narcotic processing. 722.000 gallons of gasoline are used. Expenses with gasoline are up to 12515 million per year. Other chemical reagents: up to 305 billion pesos per year.

Education

FARC recruit people of between 16 and 30 years of age. The new recruits first get a minimum information on internal, objective statutes of the organization and commitments. After been incorporated, the members are sent to training basic schools by a period between 3-5 months. When they leaves the scholl they are considered flat guerrilla. After two years depending on profits and behavior the guellicas can get promotion to squadron commander, delegate of guerrilla, commander, etc.

• Each student spends about 10,000 pesos per day in feeding and uniforms.
• The FARC annual expenses for personnel and education are 5110 million pesos.
• In a optimistic hypothesis the FARC train 200 men per year in each one of their 7 schools.

Propaganda

• 327 million pesos are expenses with social programs supporting indigenous groups, associations of farmers, students and labour unions workers and leaders.
• internet: 20 million pesos
• Radio: Intelligence detected between 5 and 7 clandestine radios of low range but with the possibility of moving them through all the territory: up to 431 million pesos.

Solidarity founds

Support to the captured members and their families.

• Prisoner support: 7 billion pesos by year.
• Family support: 1773 million pesos by year.

International front

• Support to the FARC activities in foreign countries: 476 million pesos by year.

The FARC incomes

Drugs

• Protecting plantations: $541 million pesos.
• Storage of the leaf of the coca: 953 million pesos.
• Production of base cocaine: 886 million pesos.
• Production in sophisticated laboratories: 2621 million pesos.

Clandestine airports

There are 57 clandestine airports that the narco-traffickers use(this is a big number since in Colombia there are only 73 official airports). The FARC rent the use of these airport to drug-dealers and receive income of up to 7154 million pesos from doing so.

Commercialization

The report says that the Farc directly commercializes 30 percent of the drug that is produced, and the remaining 70 percent is left to international networks of drug trafficking.

• Cocaine commercialization: incomes up to 7 billion pesos

Other activities

• Kidnapping: up to 88560 million pesos is gained per year through kidnapping.
• Extorsion: 1 billion 569 million, 315 thousand pesos per year.
• Assaults on banks: 2,780 million pesos per year .
• Cattle robbery: 52 thousand 668 million pesos per year.
• Fuel robbery: 42 billion pesos.

According to the Vice-Minister of Defense Andrés Peñate the majority of the FARC incomes comes from the commercialization of the drugs, followed by extorsion and kidnapping.

See also

Currency Converter.

References

• "Así manejan sus finanzas las Farc" — Caracol Radio, January 31, 2005